TVs and other major consumer electronics products should carry “EnergyGuide” labeling already mandatory for washing machines, refrigerators and other items, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) told the Dept. of Energy (DoE) and the FTC. TV power consumption accounts for up to 10% of household electric bills, the NRDC said in a study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A 25% cut in TV power consumption while units are operating could save the U.S. 10 billion plus kWh annually -- enough to power Del. for a year, the environmental group said. The CEA called mandatory energy efficiency approaches not “appropriate” for the electronics industry, because CE products’ energy use patterns are “vastly different” from appliances’.
Exports to China
Great Wall Acquisition said the majority of its shareholders voted to extend the firm’s certificate of incorporation deadline to Dec. 31 to buy it enough time to acquire ChinaCast. N.Y.C.-based Great Wall Acquisition, formed in 2003 to serve as a vehicle for mergers, acquisitions and transactions with firms in the People’s Republic of China, said it must complete the business combination to avoid being required to liquidate. The deadline had previously been March 23. Great Wall Chmn. King Shing Li told shareholders the company “is working to get approval for our business combination as soon as possible.” Great Wall officials said the firm will submit proxy and registration materials to the SEC regarding its proposed acquisition of ChinaCast upon delivery of ChinaCast’s audited 2005 financial statements. ChinaCast, based in Beijing, provides broadband via satellite to educational institutions, govt. agencies, and multinational firms throughout China.
Nokia and Chinese search provider Baidu.com in Chinese language markets on an information search service over high- end Nokia handsets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Nokia announced Fri. The service will include 4 of Baidu’s most popular services, including web search, news search, image search and Baidu Post Bar, a popular Chinese online community. Neither company said what level of govt.- sponsored censorship would apply to the searches.
CeBIT 2006 drew 25,000 fewer visitors than last year but saw 20% more business deals, officials said. About 450,000 visited the 6,262 exhibitors, they said. U.S. companies (198) were 4th among foreign exhibitors, after Taiwan (711), China (412) and S. Korea (220). Before the .com bubble burst, CeBIT had over 800,000 visitors annually.
Wireline and wireless users in China will receive an itemized list of all call payments, the govt. said. This would be a first for the industry there and a major step in customer service, according to China telecom analysts. Chinese Vice Minister of Information Industry Xi Guohua told a national telecom conference Tues. that the service is included in the ministry’s plan for 2006; callers in China can only get long-distance call listings now.
Ex-FCC Comr.Kathleen Abernathy to join Akin Gump as communications and technology partner March 29… New at SES Americom: Jim Ducay, ex-Acceris Communications, COO; Jon Russo, ex-iPass, senior vp-mktg. & product management… Donald Osborne, ex-EMS Satellite, becomes pres., Advantech Satellite Networks… Lewis Schreck, ex-Infinity, joins Red Zebra Bcstg. as vp-sports & corporate sales… New at Salem Communications: CDMA Development Group names Chungming An, ex-Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications, vp-China and southeast Asia… Darren Ryder, ex-Time Warner Cable, becomes gen. mgr., Orlando cluster; Henry Tippie, ex- KKCS(FM) Colorado Springs, as gen. mgr. Colorado Springs stations; Tony Calatayud promoted to gen. mgr. WKAT(AM) Miami… Sundance Channel names Mark Williams, ex-Court TV, creative dir.-on-air.
Intel engineers are learning how to get DTV broadcasts to moving notebook PCs, Intel representatives said. Standards are set, with DVB-H covering the 82% of the mobility market outside China, Japan and S. Korea and set to deploy first at the end of 2006. Nomadic use already is being handled with ATSC in N. America and with DVB-T in all but the 3 E. Asian nations, Manny Pitta, a mgr. in the company’s mobile platforms group, told the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco Wed. ATSC, despite previous doubts, could serve the nomad market, meaning stationary TV reception away from home or office, he said. China, Japan and S. Korea each have unique standards. The problem of Doppler shift, a result of receiver motion, prevents mobile reception of HD and restricts it to nomadic use, said Ernest Tsui, principal engineer-wireless communications architecture. HD can be received at up to 10 mph only, SD up to 50 and low-resolution broadcasts at up to 100, he said. Two antennas are best for optimizing reception, Tsui said. Tests while driving in the San Francisco area showed a single antenna provides a 68.3% chance of successful reception, but 2 provide 85.9%, he said. “After that there was a point of diminishing returns and complexity,” Tsui said: “Multiband compact antennas with good gain are called for.” Fortunately, a notebook can hold the required components, he said. Antennas should be as far as possible from each other -- or polarized -- and from other transmitters, which can offer interference. Intel is developing high-gain, high-bandwidth monopole antennas for that, Tsui said. He told developers antennas should provide more than 4 dB gain, fit into a notebook lid and be low-cost. Network infrastructure is important, too, he said. To avoid frame freezes, coverage should be 95%, well above the FCC recommendation of 50%, he said. Networks should be single- frequency, he said: “They fortunately are being built as we speak.”
China Wed. announced a 22-member encryption standard alliance comprising top Chinese computer and telecom firms and aimed at promoting use of its controversial WAPI standard. China dropped a bid to install WAPI last year in trade talks with the U.S., and foreign press couldn’t determine whether ramped-up regulatory efforts would be connected to the new alliance. Major manufacturers Lenovo and Huwaei are key members of the new group.
China Post wants to draw investment from 2 telecoms as part of govt. reform of the country’s postal system, Chinese papers reported Fri. The proposed postal savings bank, which it wants to establish by June, would be funded by China United Telecom and China Telecom, according to the S. China Sun.
Philips, Samsung and T3G will collaborate to bring TD-SCDMA handsets to the Chinese market, the companies announced Thurs. The companies will collaborate to release the dual-mode Samsung video phone in China “most likely in Q2 2006,” they said; it will combine the Philips EDGE Nexperia cellular system with a T3G protocol stack and a TD-SCDMA processor developed jointly by the 2 chip manufacturers. Samsung said its handsets will be available for launch as soon as the Chinese govt. gives the companies the proper licenses, which are pending.